Wellness plan, Title IX and other healthy things

Carol KleimanCHICAGO TRIBUNE

New benefits: When Worthington Industries Inc., a steel processing company based in Columbus, Ohio, stopped paying in full for health-care insurance for its 8,000 employees nationwide, its chairman and CEO, John P. McConnell, decided to focus on helping employees remain healthy.

And that's why McConnell gave workers a choice:

Pay a portion of the cost of health care or sign up for the company's innovative Healthy Choices Wellness program and earn a fully paid premium.

The program was introduced in 2003, and so far 3,600 employees and their spouses are in the program, working to meet specific health goals.

Healthy Choices includes health assessments, medical screenings and personalized plans to improve health. Additionally, the company has a full-service medical center at headquarters and an on-site fitness facility.

Another benefit the company offers, which I think is an extremely helpful one even though it's not directly related to health, is inexpensive haircuts on company time.

That's a perk Worthington introduced in 1961.

New approach: What federal law can be utilized to bring women who work in science into equity with men? Debra R. Rolison, head of the Advanced Electrochemical Materials section at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, says the answer is Title IX. That law says no person shall be denied benefits of education or activities receiving federal aid on the basis of sex.

"Title IX is a mechanism that can be used to stimulate change," according to Rolison, who gave a speech on the subject at a meeting of the American Physical Society. The session was sponsored by the Committee on the Status of Women in Physics.

Rolison, whose talk was published in the society's newsletter, also is an adjunct professor of chemistry. She suggests that it's time to apply Title IX, which has made such a difference for female college athletes, "as a strategy on behalf of women faculty in chemistry departments." She notes that in 2002, women made up only 12 percent of faculty at the top 50 research departments in chemistry.

She adds: "We have got to get out of our lily-white male university if we want to stay at the forefront of science."

New company: Now that Plante Moran, a public accounting firm based in Southfield, Mich., has completed its merger with Chicago-based Gleeson, Sklar, Sawyers and Cumpata, the 1,300 employees of the new firm, called Plante Moran, are eligible for some important benefits.

They include free weekend family vacations every two years at a resort; wedding, baby and anniversary gifts; full reimbursement for home computers; and, a six-month parental leave following a birth or adoption. The latter includes 12 weeks of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

New definitions: "What, however, are `work and family' issues?"

That's a question asked by Dan Clawson in his book, "The Next Upsurge: Labor and the New Social Movements."

And here's the answer that the University of Massachusetts professor gives:

"Most public discussion sees the issues in terms of such matters as family leave, flextime and child care," Clawson says. "But union leaders don't accept that definition, arguing that it is far too narrow. `When you look at a union contract,' noted one union member, `there's lots in there that are work/family issues, for instance, your pay, your insurance, your hospitalization, your pension, your days off.'"

Clawson adds: "You don't realize they are work and family issues until workers no longer have them, especially sick leave or vacation or disability pay--all of which are things that for the most part were originally union-negotiated benefits.

"In that context, some unions are justifiably proud of the benefits they have won and conscious of the way they improve family life."